SynPower and OLM

[Dominic]

I do a lot of short trips. I used to not when I lived in FL, but in PA my school is a mere 2 miles from me. For kicks, even though I'm on a 3000mi OCI in my 2002 V6 Camaro, I let the OLM cycle down until it blinked at me alerting me for an oil change. On my car I have no way of knowing % so I must wait for it to blink at me. It scarily only took 4400mi up here. My OLM is calibrated for a maximum interval of 7500, and I usually see it kick on around 6000 in normal driving scenarios.

I normally run Maxlife 5w30, and in FL I used to run it 5000mi... however Walmart is now carrying Synpower in 5qt jugs in my area so I bought some. I will try to use this from now on and do a few used oil analysis to determine how it fares against the maxlife. Do you think running this oil it would be appropriate for me to "listen" to my oil life meter and just change it when it tells me instead of doing 3k or 5k and guessing based on used oil analysis?

Stats: 5qt sump, long filter, 3.8L V6 41,000mi
www.1lev6.com

 

[GoldenRod]

The short answer----> NO. If your car looks as pretty as the one in the link you posted, do a 4k OCI. The oil life monitor is one of those amusing gadgets that guys "in the know" ignore.

 

[Matt89]

Goldenrod says to do a 4K OCI. I believe you just said that your OLM went off at 4400 mi. So great minds think alike

Seriously, using a high quality oil like synpower with the OLM is great plan. Keep in mind the OLM was designed to indicate when an oil meeting the MINIMUM specs needed to be changed. Synpower gives you a cushion!

 

[GoldenRod]

Right now my OLM says I have 70% life left on my oil. That can't be right! I've had that oil in there for over 3 months with more that 1200 miles on it.

 

[dailydriver]

Dominic; Is that a T5 or an automatic?

 

[Dominic]

Tremec T5. 1 of 2555 made

I will do a used oil analysis to confirm some things, but I think the OLM might work fine running something like synpower. I like cushion

 

[TomJones76]

There is no good reason to doubt the GM OLM.
A lot of research went into it.
Unless your car specs synthetic, it assumes you're running the worst oil that is acceptable per the manual.
You can trust it.

 

[Dominic]

Sounds like a good plan Tom. I'll do some used oil analysis and trust the OLM

I'm curious how it turns out. If it's doing its job correctly, the oil should trully be "worn" about the same regardless of miles based on driving habits.